Dragonfly Trivet designed by Charles Hand

[Frank Pellow]

 

Getting Started:

I've wanted to cut a Charles Hand pattern for a long time.  I'm cutting it out of a 1/4 inch Purple Heart panel that I purchased from Heritage Wood supplies.  It's about 30 centimetres (12 inches) in diameter at the widest part. 

The picture below, was taken part way along in the cutting:

Even though Charles suggested cutting this with #1 and #2 spiral blades but I am so taken with the precision and flow of the lines on his pattern that I decided to use #1 (Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse) flat blades.  The flat blades are working well, although they wear out quickly on the hard wood.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Frank Pellow

[scrollerpete]

I hope you have your mask on because Purple Heart is very noxious wood. Looking good so far. Purple hearth for trivet I hope you will not give this away.

[Frank Pellow]

Problems Along the Way:

I had a couple of problems with pieces breaking off.  Nothing broke off while I was cutting but an arm broke off when I knocked the cut dragon with a wrench (defintaly by mistake).  To make it worse, I could not find the piece that broke off.  The missing arm is the right  hand one in the photo below.  In the photo, you can see that I am preparing to cut a replacement piece which will be glued on:

                        

I broke one other piece when I was peeling off the pattern without due care and attention:

                       

I did have this piece but decided not to glue it back.  There are two reasons for this.  First, the break is in a much less noticeable place than the arm.  Second, the angles are very awkward for such a gluing operation.

[Frank Pellow]

Sawing Complete but How Can I make it Durable?

I finished cutting the trivet, made one repair, and cut a baker out of 3mm thick Mahogany faced veneer:

                       

I am now thinking about how to make it robust enough to actually be working trivet.  The first thing that came to mind was to cover it in epoxy much like I covered the wooden counter in our kitchen at the cabin.  I undertook some research and but did not find anything about people using epoxy with something as small as a trivet, mostly epoxy appears to be used with tables.  

I've now done further research and locatd an epoxy that I think should work.  I've decided to cover my "adventures" with that epoxy in a separate thread.  See:

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Frank Pellow

[Frank Pellow]

37 minutes ago, scrollerpete said:

I hope you have your mask on because Purple Heart is very noxious wood. Looking good so far. Purple hearth for trivet I hope you will not give this away.

The dust that I saw from the wood seemed to stay on the table and not permeate the air, but thanks for the warning.

I will probably keep this one.  If it works well I will be making more.  I did quite enjoy cutting it.

 

[daveww1]

very nice job

[amazingkevin]

Quality cuts only you can do! This will be a keepsake!!!

[Dave Wittich]

Excellent work!  I've never worked with the purpleheart, looks like it's a rather fragile wood, kinda like Eastern Red Cedar is.
My other half would love that trivette - she's a MAJOR FAN of dragonflies.  Gonna have to look up the design.

Working on my model airplane (balsa, spruce, etc) background, when we're working a good that doesn't have a lot of strength we usually use a bead of CA glue to brace it.  Thin CA, run along the sides of the cuts on that dragonfly wing SHOULD strengthen it up quite a bit.  Just a thought.

Darn, the more I look at this thing, the more I like it.

 

[Frank Pellow]

On ‎3‎/‎25‎/‎2020 at 5:37 PM, Dave Wittich said:

Excellent work!  I've never worked with the purpleheart, looks like it's a rather fragile wood, kinda like Eastern Red Cedar is.
My other half would love that trivette - she's a MAJOR FAN of dragonflies.  Gonna have to look up the design.

Working on my model airplane (balsa, spruce, etc) background, when we're working a good that doesn't have a lot of strength we usually use a bead of CA glue to brace it.  Thin CA, run along the sides of the cuts on that dragonfly wing SHOULD strengthen it up quite a bit.  Just a thought.

Darn, the more I look at this thing, the more I like it.

 

Thanks for the compliment and thanks for the tip. 

Purple heart is a little stronger than cedar, but not a lot.

I, also, like dragonflies a lot.  This is the 5th different dragonfly scroll-saw pattern that I have utilized.  Stained glass is another one of my hobbies and, there, I have made 3 different dragonfly items.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Frank Pellow

[OLScroler]

Great creativeness on designing and applying to your finished project !!!!!

It takes a little more time starting from scratch but it sure is rewarding as the project progresses.

Your trivet looks great

Chris H

[Tomanydogs]

Frank that’s a real beautiful piece.